You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

So I just purchased an older house in a well known Dallas Area. It has been about 85% renovated except the Garage. I would like to convert my Single Car garage into a double but dont want to break the bank.

Here are the things that are complete
1) 90% Drywalled and insulated
2) Concrete Slab poured
3) No Major issues

Things that are lacking or have minor issues
1) 10% is unfinished with cinderblock exposed
2) small leaks on the unfinished side
3) small gaps between roof and the top of the cinderblock

Any clues as to what this might run me so that I dont get totally taken to the cleaners by my contractor?

Ultimately I would like to completely finish it out to match on both sides and use a extra wide door to be able to fit two cars with room to spare. I would also need the concrete slap for my driveway extended to match the new opening..

I think what people are thinking is that if there is sag, it will get worse once you knock out the wall. Maybe to the point of being structurally unsound?

I know next to nothing about engineering, but yeah..that was my thought. The weight is not supported well enough now (the sag).

I would think you need some sort of temp support wall under the rafters (next to the beam)...and slowly..very slowly (weeks maybe at a turn a day) use jack posts to get it back up where they belong. Then install lally columns under the beam...before you ever consider removing that wall.

Or maybe I watch too much TV and them trying to level\straighten old houses?

With the way your garage is built, the wall in between is not a supporting wall so it can come out, no problem. Your supporting walls are the front and back wall. What you will have to do though is install a large header if you put in a 16' garage door, or another header if you are installing another single garage door.

With basic construction skills, you should be able to have the wall knocked out and another door framed in on a good weekend or at least a good three days.

To get the wall out, locate any electrical before demolition starts. You can use a sawzall and cut the wall into sections for ease of handling. If you don't have a way to dispose of the wall lumber and drywall, look on CL for ones that will haul for money. When I ripped out the 24' wall between my two bays, I paid a guy $50 to haul it all off.

Thanks for the info, I assumed we needed to install a header if I knocked out the wall and made the opening bigger. My concern was trying to determine if the center wall was load bearing or not as all the roof joists run from front to back. EXCEPT there is one large beam that from left to right. There is a steel pole that is bolted into the beam and the concrete that would need to be removed if we installed a larger door.

I will get an estimate tomorrow morning to determine if its worth remodeling and making larger vs knocking the whole thing down and building a new garage (i really dont want to go the latter route)

Knock it down and build a new structure. With that beam sag and the other issues you are mentioning it's just not worth the time and money you would need to invest to get it back up to proper code. This is a garage not a house so in many cases the repairs will cost you alot more in the long run in time, money and frustration.

Looking at the size (width) of the drive I'd say the garage was a two car originally with a little extra storage area to the right.
I'll assume that all the exterior walls are CMU's(?) and the ceiling joists are sectional- meaning they are supported in the middle of the structure by the drop beam.
Looking at the droop in the beam of the finished area I'd say there was probably another support beam somewhere that now gone.
To properly support the ceiling joists/roof and clear span at least 20+ feet you'd probably need a LVL; a built-up beam with a flitch plate, or a steel I-beam (especially if you might want to have a hoist).

The project could be do-able but the only way you'll know for sure would be to have a structural engineer look at it and make a recommendation- from there you can determine if fixing or rebuilding would be the way to go.

Looking at the size (width) of the drive I'd say the garage was a two car originally with a little extra storage area to the right.
I'll assume that all the exterior walls are CMU's(?) and the ceiling joists are sectional- meaning they are supported in the middle of the structure by the drop beam.
Looking at the droop in the beam of the finished area I'd say there was probably another support beam somewhere that now gone.
To properly support the ceiling joists/roof and clear span at least 20+ feet you'd probably need a LVL; a built-up beam with a flitch plate, or a steel I-beam (especially if you might want to have a hoist).

The project could be do-able but the only way you'll know for sure would be to have a structural engineer look at it and make a recommendation- from there you can determine if fixing or rebuilding would be the way to go.

The garage is 30.9 x 20.9

The only reason I am not wanting to knock it down is because its pretty much a finished project in the sense that it has new drywall, electrical foundation and insulation.

The side where the door is now, is unfinished. I would want to finish out that side and then simply create a larger opening to install a two car garage door and then pour the concrete to match for the driveway.

The part that is dumbfounding to me is that it could be more expensive to do this project then it is to knock down and create a new garage? how is that possible? I was thinking the repairs on this would be less than 10k.

A new garage with brick, insulation, roof and finished drywall was roughly 35k from what I am googling. Is that inaccurate?

Two car - According to Hanley Wood and their "Remodeling" magazine, the cost to construct a standard two-car garage addition is $58,432. This translates to $86 per square foot; and

Four car - Traditionally, the per square foot costs on larger structures will decrease, and it is safe to assume a $60 per square foot cost on the larger unit. This translates to a total cost of $86,400.

no reason to tear that down. Do you research online on how to straighten the support beam and support the roof properly. Yes, you may need an engineer to write up how to meet code, but that is a lot cheaper than a new garage.

Labor is where the expense comes in...if you are unable to do any of the work..then yes that may be expensive.

Read this thread if you think yours is bad...this one was saved and was about to fall down.

I agree that this was once a two car garage and would be surprised if you found the previous header where the man door is now.

Living in Dallas for 7 yrs now, are you sure you dont have a foundation issue. Everything shifts, moves, sinks here....I have had to jack up, shim and and add new piers to two different houses now.

Yeah Dallas is a tricky place. There COULD be a foundation issue. I am not saying that its perfect by any means. I just don't SEE it other than a support beam sagging. I don't know much about what that means regarding the structure and foundation.

Unfortunately I cant do much of the work myself so that is stacked against me at the moment.

Hoping for the best. With all this hail that seems to happen in Dallas it should would be nice to have this garage setup for both my cars. I have been lucky the last 3-4 times it has hailed and it missed us both times. But about 2 miles up the road at the major mall, it got it BAD!